6 travelers at this place:

For Anna it was the second morning with yoga in the hostel corridor (after the curtain on the first floor it‘s okay not to wear the veil and behave like being “at home“).

We then gathered yesterday’s laundry from the roof top and packed our backpacks to get ready for Kashan. Before, we visited the former US embassy which, unfortunately, was closed. So we only looked at the anti-US/Israel propaganda.

Afterwards we made our way to the southern bus terminal and had no trouble to find a bus to Kashan. In the bus, we met an Iranian who offered to drive us to our hotel. So nice! The hotel is a traditional house with mud walls, very authentic and nice. Also, it is pleasantly cool which helps in Kashan’s desert climate.

We went out in the late afternoon to visit the Agha Bozork Mosque 🕌. The site was beautiful and we were lucky to start a conversation with Fatima, a 21-year old student from Kashan. She showed us around the mosque (and was not discouraged by a somewhat grumpy and impolite Mullah who corrected her on some rather minor detail). We then walked with her to the bazaar and invited her to drink tea with us in a very nice former hammam-turned-tea house. The owner let us in for free as wanted to “honor the Iranian-German friendship”. 😄

The tea tasted excellent and was accompanied by a set of cookies, dates, candy sugar and cinnamon. We additionally ordered roasted eggplant spread and the next time we looked at our watch it was already 19:30! Time had flown by so quickly! 🙃 Before saying goodbye to Fatima, we still sneaked up on the roof of the bazaar which was really cool. It is also built with mud and has domes sticking out with small holes in the middle to let some air but no heat into the bazaar alley below...

As we were not really hungry anyways, we went home, picking up some oranges and apples at a food stall as a dinner substitute 🍊 🍎Read more

Our second day in Kashan was fantastic, too! We met two Spanish guys we got to know in the hostel in Teheran and went to the beautiful Fin gardens at the outskirts of Kashan. They are a typical example of Persian gardens with fountains and springs, trees and pavilion. While it was nice, it did not strike us as overly impressive. What was really nice, though, was the tea house in the gardens and the rose water/saffron ice cream :-)

The next stop (after a short rest in the hotel) was much more impressive: the ancient hammam Sultan Amir Ahmad and the traditional house of Abbasi. The hammam is, unfortunately, not in use any longer - as is true for nearly all hammams in Iran - but it’s still a great sight. It features beautiful tiles and painted ceilings. Also, a visit to the roof have us a better understanding of how the vaults are constructed and how the light is let in through small glass inlays in the cupulas.

The traditional Abbasian house was also mangnificent: >5,000 square meters :-) it took the owner - a rich glass merchant - 20 years to complete. We admired especially the well functioning ventilation system with the lowest levels being really cool and pleasant to stay in.

Dinner was another highlight: we went to another traditional house turned hotel and restaurant. After watching the sun set from the courtyard, we went into the cellar for a nice dinner.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to going to Esfahan - one of the top tourist attractions in Iran and certainly also buzzing with Iranian tourists during the ongoing No Ruz celebrations.Read more